The Celica will be a better bet anyway. My OH has run a 2003 Celica for 5 years now and it's on 106k on the clock - it will not go wrong and he doesn't exactly lavish it with care. Never misses a beat. They're still holding decent value due to rarity too.

Too many variables - mileage and reliability are just two. Such as

are you bothered about appearance - are there many dings? Right colour?

your prejudices about make - I don't believe you haven't any :-)

if it is totally reliable, is it also nice to drive, and does it do everything you want it to?

will it depreciate quickly? Reasonable to insure?

Etc, etc. ...

This will depend how new the car is, but if possible buy from someone who knows about it, rather than some dealer who took it as part-ex or got it at auction.

High milage in a regularly and properly serviced car (especially a diesel) may be no disadvantage at all - in fact it makes the car a better bargain.

Edited by Andrew-T on 04/06/2013 at 15:53

Hello py9mrg, you need to take a long hard look. My car has 167K but perfect FSH and cambelt changes etc. Used nearly every day and for long journeys. Sweet as a nut. A similar age car with low mileage used for short journeys, spells Trouble. The engine is probably the toughest part of the car, it is the other bits that break too. I agree with Bobbin that Toyotas are bullet proof and are unlikely to fail easily. So if your prospective Toyota has the right service history, test drives well and sound good then the other bits should be ok too and you could have a little gem for many years to come. Cheers Concrete